Whisky and roses

Whisky and Roses: an event for our members in the Norfolk countryside and a treat for our senses. On the 18th June 2011 we started our day at Peter Beales in Attleborough, which is the home of a world leader in Classic Garden Roses. Our guide, Ian Limmer the site manager, began our tour by explaining the differences between climbing and rambling roses. He pointed out the tall spruces, which Peter Beales had been given as a gift.

We were invited to climb onto a viewing platform, which was the main feature at their 2009 Chelsea stand with the idea that the public would get a good view of the display gardens however it was declared unsafe for that event and Ian even had to wear a hard hat to water his plants! Safety rules like this has meant that fewer large stands appear at Chelsea, but Peter has decided to keep doing them and continues to win Gold medals for his persistence. Their display typically has around 15.000 plants with a budget of £40,000. Ian told us the history of rose breeding and how it can take ten years to produce a new rose, from a sowing of one thousand only six to ten roses will be good enough to be a new commercial variety. Prince Charles asked for a red repeat climber for Highgrove, others are produced for charity, such as the fragrant St. Ethelburga with proceeds going towards rebuilding the burnt down church. A recent addition is the ‘The Churchill Rose’ which was commissioned by Churchill College to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the College. t when bringing back some plants for a nearby nursery, bonsai trees were his reward, which Peter freed from their bondage to grow to their true natural size. 

We were shown pruning, rose grafting and how to get the perfect wall cover from a climbing rose The rose beds are regularly refreshed and there is a community event in July when the locals are invited to a barbecue and in return they dead head the roses, a true symbiotic event. 

After lunch we arrived at the St. George’s Distillery at Roudham, which is England’s only whisky distillery. The site had been an asparagus field owned by cereals farmer James Nelstrop, who had an interest in water divining. He found spring water in his lawn, which was where he decided to have the bore hole for the distillery. East Anglia is ideally suited to have a distillery as there is a huge chalk aquifer and it is also where the best barley is grown. The only other ingredient required is baker’s yeast. They decided to concentrate on quality rather than quantity and thus have a small building, which has the benefit of having everything under one roof. This proved to be quite an advantage for us as there was a heavy downpour during the tour and we were inside in the dry, whereas at a larger distillery we would probably have resulted in a very wet crowd of Biologists.

We were taken through the distillery and the processes were explained from the milling of the grist, the production of the mash and wort, fermentation and the distillation process.  The copper pot stills, which can be considered as works of art were hand made in Speyside and are of the smallest size allowed by Customs as a guard against illicit stills. The whisky has to be in a cask for three years to be classified as a spirit and Kentucky bourbon oak barrels are mainly used as they are considerably cheaper than sherry barrels. The oak allows the barrels to breathe and gives the spirit both flavour and colour. Interestingly, due to the climate, the spirit matures quicker in Norfolk than in Scotland so a three year old can be compared to a five year old malt. Iain Henderson, a master distiller from Laphroig on Islay got the distillery going and hence the link with peat. He trained David Fitt who is the current St George’s distiller. Half of the barley is sent to Scotland to be dried with peat smoke and this is used to make the peated whisky. The barley which remains in Roudham is used to make the unpeated whisky. Every distiller has their own way and nose to make their whisky and this is why all malts have their own characteristics. The distillery has now made over 1000 casks and this is the first English whisky to be made in over 100 years. 

At the end of the tour we were able to taste some of the products and were advised strongly to add water to the cask strength whisky, in order to bring out the true flavours of the spirit.

Pam Stacey